REVIEW – Shadow of The Beast (the remake), is an unusual combination of sci-fi and fantasy elements. A game that to me is both surprisingly reminiscent of Devil May Cry and requires skill. It is a simple yet elegant product; that seems to try and appease the old fans and the new modern gamers. Does it work out? Find out here!

The story is simple yet elegant: you are Aarbron a monster who as a child was kidnapped by Lord Maletoth to serve as a slaughtering machine. However the control is broken during one of Aarbron’s incursion against the Humans, and he remembers his past, thus turning against his master. From that point, everyone is against him, demons, humans, and gods. His one singular objective is to kill Lord Maletoth and return to his original human form.

The story of blablabalaaaa…

While the plot seems rather simplistic, the developers tied some of the stories to unlocks, and require multiple playthroughs to get the full narrative. In the beginning, when characters talk to you, the speech is subtitled, but they do not make sense. However once speech recognition for certain races is unlocked, the subtitles will make sense, so the player will be able to understand it when replaying a level.

The levels can be replayed infinitely, at any difficulty. However if you start at normal in level one, you cannot play a harder difficulty on the later levels unless you completed the previous one. The narrative and the lore is in-depth by reading unlockable monster/character cards. In the end, the story is just a background for some fast and crazy action.

….and craazzyyy action!

When looking at the old Amiga version of Shadow of The Beast, I thought the new one was going to be a chaotic platformer with some elements of basic melee combat. This did not look too fun, and especially with such neat visual themes I was worried about the remake. Luckily I was wrong, sorry actually that Shadow of The Beast (2016) is a pure and straightforward brawler, with high octane action that barely stops (with a little bit of puzzle solving).

In the beginning, we are linked to a mage, but as soon as we break away from his limitations, we get to experience our full potential. We can tear enemies from limb to limb, impale them with our giant claws, or rip them to shreds in rage mode. The combat is visceral, and that is putting it lightly, tapping the square button will cause Aarbron to slice the head and knee off of enemies, pressing certain button combinations will make him jump forward to impale the enemy on the ground, and (as a bonus) earn your health back.

While it is fast paced, the combat is a tiny bit too simplistic, regular enemies will go down with a button tap, and almost everything can be blocked or rolled under (In the beginning). The difficulty comes from the number of enemies on screen. As enemies can attack from both ends, you need to micromanage the attackers, which is fun as not every enemy can be hit instantly. While it is true that if a hit is successful death is a reward for the enemy, they can block, teleport and do some other nasty tricks against us.

The bosses are on the other hand have actual health bars (oh thank god its not a QTE slugfest), and have different mechanics implanted to make the battles more interesting. Some of them work (the Hydra Queen is fun), some of them not (the first boss is annoying a bit). All of them are mostly creative and visually …. disgusting in one way or another.

Beksiński would be proud

While the graphics are not Uncharted four quality, Shadow of The Beast oozes style and exceeds in visual originality. Every building, every monster, and effect add to the ambiance of the game, which is an exact mix of fantasy, and sci-fi. You have magic in a title next to sci-fi floating ships, and giant walkers. All the while there are souls floating everywhere, and a castle that is surrounded by lava. However, that mix of genres and visuals (even if it is only in 900p / 60FPS) result in making Shadow of The Beast one of the most original looking game of 2016 as of yet.

While the game oozes style, some elements of the game for the graphics are a bit subpar. The background is at times washed out, and muddy. Some of the effects also end up looking strange in certain angles, such as the blood splatter. It randomly changes between dark red, and light red for some reason, though I only encountered this in the first level. Still the atmosphere is haunting, desolate, and at times scary as hell. The enemy design is spectacular, and not for young gamers who scare easily.

A worthy remake!

Shadow of The Beast is a great PS4 exclusive for a budget price, which also includes a lot of replayability. While there are some issues with the combat’s responsiveness, it never becomes a giant problem ruining the gameplay. A visceral game with attractive visual design, a must have for all PS4 gamers (that are not scared of a little blood).

-Dante-

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Developer: Heavy Spectrum Entertainment Labs

Genre: Platform, Action-Adventure

Release date: May 17, 2016